When a group of Egyptian university students submitted a magazine on sex education for their final-year assignment, they hardly imagined they would fail their course and spark a media backlash.

Yet that is exactly what happened when the project, submitted to the media and mass communications department at Cairo’s al-Azhar University, was rejected as unsuitable. Articles about the “scandal” appeared in the local media, and the students feared expulsion.

In a statement, the group said: “We assure everyone that our magazine, Secrets, is a social magazine.

“We stress that the project doesn’t deal with pornography or sex education in general, but rather with social problems. Harassment, myths and superstitions, addiction to pornography sites, the loss of wives’ rights, calling for teaching materials for sex education in schools and universities … we discussed these topics without any indecency, as we have learned from our professors.”

The defence fell on deaf ears. Eventually, after resubmitting a magazine about sport, they passed their course. The students still fear reprisals, though, and declined to discuss the issue when approached.

The Arab world’s most populous country is experiencing a population boom that experts say has been caused by a lack of access to education and contraceptives.